Identification of psychological features and development of an assessment tool for event-related psychological distress after experiencing non-traumatic stressful events

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K16616
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 52030:Psychiatry-related
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Aiko 千葉大学, 大学院医学研究院, 特任助教 (20831522)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 心理的苦悩症状 / ライフイベント / 気分障害 / 評価尺度作成 / ERPD-24

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a rating scale specifically for the assessment of psychological distress in psychological distress related to events that may occur more routinely and do not meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. We used qualitative research to identify clinical characteristics of event-related psychological distress (ERPD) and drafted a rating scale. Subsequently, we selected sufficient items from the drafts created to assess ERPD, validated the scale with general subjects, and created the rating scale, ERPD-24.
We used the rating scale to examine differences between patients with mood disorders and healthy controls, differences by mood state, and associations with other rating scales, with the following results. Our research reveals that patients with bipolar disorders and non-remitting depression had more severe ERPD than normal subjects, and that all the patients with mood disorders had more frequent and prolonged ERPD than healthy controls.

Free Research Field

精神医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

心理的苦悩症状（ERPD）の重症度を測る評価尺度「ERPD-24」を作成し、ERPDが復讐心・反芻・自己否定・精神麻痺の4要素で構成されることを明らかにした。
気分障害のうち、主にうつ病患者のPTSD様症状に関する研究報告はあるものの、症状の詳細を探求した研究、評価や治療的視点を持った研究報告は見られなかった。本研究によりERPDの特徴を明確化し、その評価方法を開発することで、ERPDの臨床精神病理的な理解が進むと共に、これまでPTSDの診断がつかないため治療対象とみなされなかった気分障害患者のERPDを適切に評価し、治療的介入の対象とみなす視点を得られ、今後の気分障害治療に有益となると考える。